For all you dog owners...

[Us3]

awww, congrats on the new family member nicole!

 

[seabee]

Thanks for all the congrats, but I'll accept them when I have made it through the "potty training" stage! Boy, I think I need some kungaloosh!

 

[BradyBz12]

I feel your pain! When our middle dog was a pup, she was incredibly difficult to housetrain. No idea why, but all the usual tips and tricks just didn't seem to work with her. We eventually survived it, but I think the only reason I didn't jump out a window is this...

FWIW the thing that did the trick for us was a bell on the door. At a certain point (past 6-8 mos) it wasn't an issue of her not being *able* to hold it, but that she never told us when she needed to go out.

We hung a bell on the back door and every time we took her out we would jingle the bell before we opened the door. Didn't take long at all before she started whacking the bell with her nose any time she wanted out.


Good luck, and remember, they make 'em cute for a reason!

 

[ftwildernessguy]

I have found that the smarter the dog, the harder it was to train them. Hounds also seem to be pretty stubborn - my beagle was the toughest to train of any of them.

 

[BradyBz12]

I have found that the smarter the dog, the harder it was to train them.

I agree! Luckily I've only had to house train one of our border collies. The other 2 were already trained when we adopted them (major bonus of adopting a slightly older dog!0. Not exactly sure why that is, as they're generally a breeze to train to do just about any stupid trick you can think of. 20 minutes and a handful of treats and you can teach them just about anything.

And yes... I spend most of may days trying to out-think my dogs. I admit some days are more successful than others....

 

[PrincessNana]

Labs and Lab Mixes are great pets. All they want to do is please you and they are pretty easy to train because of this. They chew alot as puppies, so give him plenty of chew toys (this will save your furniture and house). We have taken our 3 Yorkies and, before he died, our lab mix, camping at Ft. Wilderness (and many other campgrounds) many times. We always leave them in the motorhome with the blinds closed (so they can't see outside), the ac on and the tv on. We always tested them before we went off for several hours to make sure they didn't bark and disturb our neighbors. I was never worried about our lab mix being annoying, but my Yorkies can be quiet vocal. When we came back, I always did a spot check with the neighbors to see if they were quiet while we were gone. When we're at Ft. Wilderness we usually spend a few hours in the morning at the parks and then go back to the motorhome to check on the pets. I hope you have a great trip!

 

[BradyBz12]

We always leave them in the motorhome with the blinds closed (so they can't see outside), the ac on and the tv on. We always tested them before we went off for several hours to make sure they didn't bark and disturb our neighbors. ...When we came back, I always did a spot check with the neighbors to see if they were quiet while we were gone.

Here too - so far so good!!

Recenctly we've added a new little monkey to the bunch, so we'll have 3 dogs with us at FW in November. But she already camps like a trooper and is the least vocal of all 3. I have a feeling a good romp at the dog park in the a.m., some safe chewies in her crate, the Disney channel on TV, and she'll be as content as the other 2 while we're out and about.

 

[SandrA9810]

I love bringing my doggie to the Fort. Here's a pic from the field next to the kennels. She's very good about staying in the grass and running around, that I just drop leash for her.

I don't like Best Friends, but her last stay there at Epcot turned out better than expected. We had some circumstances that we didn't know how long we needed to keep her there for.
She doesn't mind the kennels at all and settles down after I leave, and all bouncy and happy when I show back up. The ladies that used to work at the Fort's kennels knew all of us by name and loved having Kiani around. One time I brought her to the kennels afternoon and forgot to bring a form of payment, I told Carol sorry and she said not a problem, just bring it in when you walk her later (she really didn't mind and knew we would pay up), but the following morning at like 7-8am one of the managers comes rolling by our campsite in his truck bickering about how "late" it is and that Kiani needed to be walked. Kiani had indeed been walked, but past closing time that security let me in the night before, around like midnight. When we got to the kennel I told them what happened, and they were like, don't pay attention to him, he's always like that.

Our last stay there was for 5 days over halloween, and we stayed in a pet loop. Since we were in a tent, I either stayed in the tent or took her with me. And she got lots of time in the doggie park and overall had a great time.
Thankfully she's not a barker, but she is a whiner... she knows your standing some place she can't get to and thinks it's the end of the world. Like if I have to shut her in a room to keep her from darting out the front door or something, and she throw a fit.
She's also not a chewer of ANYTHING, she just wants to know that where she is, is someplace that I'll come back to. So she's fine in the car, at home, in the kennel.